Another Reason to Love the First Amendment

Not content with arresting atheists and Christians for blasphemy and insulting the incredibly delicate feelings of the Muslim majority, the Egyptian government has now issued an arrest warrant against a satirist who has dared to make fun of the government and Muslim clerics.

Egypt’s state prosecutors issued an arrest warrant Saturday for a popular television satirist for allegedly insulting Islam and the country’s president, in the latest legal action to take aim at a critic of the nation’s Islamist leader.

The warrant against Bassem Youssef is also the latest in a series of legal actions against the comedian, who has come to be known as Egypt’s Jon Stewart. Youssef’s widely-watched weekly show, “ElBernameg” or The Program, has become a platform for lampooning the government, opposition, media and clerics.

The fast-paced show has attracted a wide viewership, but has also earned itself its fair share of detractors. Youssef has been a frequent target of lawsuits, most of them brought by Islamist lawyers who have accused him of “corrupting morals” or violating “religious principles.”